Many pieces of medical/surgical equipment are built to manage the flow of a set of different fluids associated with the performance of certain medical/surgical procedures. Such fluids may include air, liquid irrigation fluids, liquid antibiotics, blood, or in the case of eye surgery, tissue that has been removed and aspirated from the eye via a probe or handpiece. Typically, the conduit for such fluids in a piece of medical/surgical equipment is a section of silicone tubing. Those setting up a piece of medical/surgical equipment for a particular medical/surgical procedure connect individual sections of silicone tubing, one to another, to assure that the needed fluids are placed where they need to be at the proper time during the medical/surgical procedure.
Connection of silicone tubing sections, one to another, is accomplished using a variety of different types of fittings. One of the more popular types of fittings used with silicone tubing sections in medical/surgical equipment is a luer fitting. In a luer fitting a tapered male luer fitting engages a similarly tapered female luer fitting. The male and female luer fittings may be held together by a set of internally and externally threaded connectors which surround the male and female luer fittings once they have been mated together. When the male and female tapered luer fittings have been mated together and the threaded connectors have been threadably engaged together around the male and female luer fittings, a secure connection is made between two sections of silicone tubing permitting the leak-free flow of a fluid therethrough.
Because different sets of fluids are associated with each procedure that can be performed with a piece of medical/surgical equipment, some pieces of medical/surgical equipment use replaceable manifolds or cassettes to facilitate the grouping of the necessary tubing connections. In this manner, the appropriate set of fluids needed to perform a selected medical/surgical procedure from the set of available medical/surgical procedures enabled by a piece of medical/surgical equipment is provided.
To distinguish between connections when multiple tubing connections are placed close to one another, engineers and designers of medical/surgical equipment typically use different sizes of luer fittings. However, engineers and designers quickly run out of luer fitting size options when multiple types of fluids are used.
The existing problem of properly mating a plurality of luer fittings together with the limited number of luer fitting connection sizes available has been solved in the prior art by the use of silicone tubing sleeves which are used during the pre-connection process. In one particular prior art solution, pre-attached silicone tubing sleeves have been used to attach bottle spike tubing to a manifold or cassette used with a piece of medical/surgical equipment while maintaining the male luer geometry. Pre-attached prior art silicone tubing sleeves are used primarily to provide stress relief for the connections to silicone tubing sections and to enable pre-attachment of prior art silicone tubing sections to the manifolds or cassettes used in medical/surgical equipment.
It has been found that prior art pre-attached silicone tubing sleeves are costly and difficult to incorporate into the automated manufacture of medical/surgical equipment. In addition, prior art silicone tubing sleeves are difficult to place over the recessed fittings located in the manifold or cassette assembly. Prior art silicone tubing sleeves are also not as simple to remove and reapply as typical luer fittings. Further, pre-attached prior art silicone tubing sleeves cannot be aseptically connected to the manifold or cassette assembly.
There are additional drawbacks to the pre-attached prior art silicone tubing sleeves. Some pre-attached prior art silicone tubing sleeves cannot endure the rigors of shipping. Pre-attached prior art silicone tubing sleeves do not allow for physical lockout of a connector when an improper connection with a manifold or cassette assembly is attempted.
It is well known that improper or cross connection of fluids to a piece of medical/surgical equipment presents a patient safety issue and can result in the creation of a dangerous condition. Accordingly, a need remains in the art for a connector to cassette assembly interface system that can be used to facilitate the set up of a piece of medical/surgical equipment for a particular medical/surgical procedure. The connector to cassette assembly interface system should provide secure connectors for luer fittings, provide a lockout if an improper connection is attempted, and protect the male and female portions of the luer fitting from contamination.